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Precipice Fund Project Update: The Portland Pataphysical Society

The Portland Pataphysical society, is a “private social club”, that hosts exhibitions,presentations and performances in an alternative arts space now located in downtown portland.

In January, we moved the PataPDX from the living room of our second floor apartment to a live/work storefront space at the corner of NW 6th and Everett. Our new space is the most visible gallery in the Everett Station Lofts, with 10 large windows looking out onto the street. Funding from our Precipice award allowed us to build out our new gallery space, completely refinishing the floors, creating a new library area, adding storage, buying a video projector, and installing a 14 foot church pew from the early 1930′s (see image 1). Once build out was complete, we launched the first exhibition in our year long programming season: Michelle Blade’s If the Spirit Moves You (see image 2). That exhibition was followed by a solo show featuring Eugene-based artist Julia Oldham (see image 3). Oldham’s work at PataPDX received a very positive critical reception, including mentions in Port, The Willamette Week, and the Portland Monthly.

PataPDX also presented an exhibition in May that brought together a diverse group of collaborating institutions to support the work of Brooklyn-based artist Christine Wong Yap (see image 4). In conjunction with to her exhibition at PataPDX, Yap participated in a 2 week residency at c3:initiative, installed a satellite exhibition in the Project Window of PDX Contemporary, and participated in Portland State University MFA Art & Social Practice program’s 2015 Assembly conference. We have used funding from our Precipice award to pay artist fees, offset shipping expenses, and for commissioning new arts writing about our projects.

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